Thursday, 6 February 2014

Easy porridge recipe using rice cooker by ServicefromHeart

This Chinese style porridge recipe takes only ~ 5 minutes to prepare. Very convenient yet healthy & filling! Highly recommend this meal for breakfast or brunch to kick start a productive day. Children surely like this one-dish meal too, so this recipe is one of mothers' favorite choice.

Servings: 2

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes (depends on the type of rice cooker)

Ingredients:

♥ 1/2 cup Jasmine rice grains

♥ 1 tbsp anchovies*

♥ 2 tbsp sesame oil

♥ 2 carrots

♥ 2 tbsp minced meat

♥ 1 tube tofu

* I prefer to use anchovies to substitute for salt.

Directions:

1. Wash rice grains. Instead of adding water to reach only the first line of your index finger when you immerse it on top of rice grains, add more water to reach halfway of first and second line.

3. Cook slightly longer than the rice cooker takes to cook rice, until you get desirable soft texture. Since I am using an antique rice cooker (a gift from mother in law), it takes me ~ 40 minutes.

4. After the porridge is cooked, quickly take the rice pot out. Quickly add sesame oil and mix*. Be careful, it is hot! Then, cover the lid for a while to let the sesame fragrance sip in.

* If you open the lid for too long, without mixing in oil, the porridge will stick to the bottom.

Tips:

♥ The 3 main ingredients are rice grains, anchovies and sesame oil. For more nutrients, add at least a vegetable (e.g. carrot, beans) and a protein source (e.g. minced meat, tofu). If you have more time for preparation, you can always add more ingredients to create bowls of colorful porridge.

♥ Sesame oil is really the secret of jazzing up simple and relatively plain meal. Among all the sesame oil that I have tried, I favor the sesame oil of Ghee Hiang Baby brand (www.ghee-hiang.com) manufactured in Penang, Malaysia, using methods and techniques learned from Fujian, China.

♥ This porridge appears similar to Cantonese style congee, but this rice cooker recipe is more convenient to prepare as it does not require constant stirring.

♥ If you want tastier porridge, serve with crunchy peanuts, crispy fried shallots or chopped chili (which can be prepared in advance and stored in a screw top jar). My Teochew mother in law prefers less salty option, so porridge straight from the rice cooker pot made her happy.